Alpha Stigma
by Andivia
Summary: Before Reiner was born, another was the reincarnation of the solver of all formulas. What if that person through an improbable event were to find a way to meet another with their own stigma. The stigma of the wind.
1. Prologue : Improbable Events

Disclaimer: I do not own anyone or thing which exists within Kaze no Stigma or the legend of the legendary heroes.

Author Note: Well, I have officially lost the will to continue my first story for the moment. To be honest I was half asleep when I wrote it and I didn't think things through properly before I posted it. I don't intend to make the same mistake twice.

This little piece of fiction will basically be me throwing an OC from the legend of the legendary heroes based on the main character Reiner Lute into the world of Kaze no Stigma. The character I am adding is kinda like the spiritual predecessor of Reiner with more or less the same abilities but a different personality, and comes from about a hundred years before the start of the anime. I'll say it right now, I do not have a great grasp of either universe. I know the basics from watching the anime and reading some chapters of the translated mangas so I'll do my best to throw these worlds together.

"Speech"

**"Incantations/spells"**

_"Thoughts"_

Prologue Start: Improbable events

Lionel - Point of view

Honestly, this was not how I pictured my day. Sure I could have predicted being hunted by the Taboo Breaker Pursuit Squads, that's kinda what I get for learning Rolands' magic then running away. Which in my defence was entirely justified considering my treatment. But I wasn't expecting to run into Nelphas version of the pursuit squad, whatever they decided to call it. I really should have though, they didn't take too kindly to me copying their magic last time I ran into them.

Of course it doesn't really matter who was after me, I more or less pictured getting caught up in a battle today. What I didn't expect was for the pursuit squads to work together and lure me into a trap using the perfect bait. A hero relic. Well, that's what I thought it was at first. They'd been spreading rumours all over the country that there was a dangerous ruin said to protect an amazing treasure of unthinkable power. Of course if it was a hero relic that would be pretty close to the truth. Unfortunately, after wading through a sea of magic traps and pitfalls, I found it. And it wasn't a hero relic. Sure, to anyone else looking it might look like one. A sword made of gems would make a pretty cool looking relic. But to my eyes, it was anything but. You see my eyes are a little special, I can analyse virtually anything I see be it physical or magical, and in the case of magic I can then reproduce it. But an exception to this is anything related to hero relics.

So how do I know this isn't a hero relic? Simple. I can tell everything about it. I could tell you the exact quantities of the different types of gem in the sword. I could tell you the exact weight of the sword without touching it. And I can even tell you what would happen if you were to channel magic into the blade activating the latent properties it has... Okay that last one was a lie. Sure I know what it's supposed to do but it would be impossible for me to describe it. Hell it's giving me a headache just thinking about it. It's like looking at an optical illusion where down becomes up and left becomes right and there's a thousand different things going on at once that boggle the mind. I don't even know what half the terms filling my head at the moment mean. Unfortunately I didn't have any more time to ponder the mysterious blade, because from the sounds of footsteps the pursuit squads had decided to come after me in person and not rely on the traps any longer.

Grabbing the blade from the stone altar that it rests upon I took a final glance upon the inscription and raised an eyebrow

"If found please return to Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg"

Why the hell would that be there?

Unfortunately that momentary distraction almost cost me as a voice rang out through the large chamber, **"spirit of flame, lend us thy power! Flare Burst!" **On instinct I hit the ground as the soldiers incantation was finished, and felt a wave of heat pass over me before an explosion tore through the opposite wall. _"mysteries later, fighting now" _I reminded myself, leaping to my feet before beginning my own incantation. **"I offer up this contract, to bear the wicked spirit beast of light that dwells within the atmosphere!" **As i chant the incantation a ribbon of red glyphs circled around me, dancing to the floor, before my lower body lit up. It was time to make a hasty retreat. Using the enhanced speed from my spell I took of down the only exit other than the one the Nelpha soldier had used. It was obviously a trap, but there was probably no clean exit anyway.

Surprisingly I met no resistance as I sped through the twisting stone corridors, _"guess that means the trap is at the exit"_. Sure enough, when I caught my first glimpses of sunlight, I also caught sight of a small army. There was no warning, just a chorus of incantations.

**"What I seek is thunder, Izuchi!"**

**"Spirit of flame, lend us thy power! Flare Burst!"**

And my entire vision was swallowed up by thunder and fire. Honestly, there was no way I was getting through that unscathed. I could at least avoid the worst of it. I began my incantation, forming a shield of magic before me in the form of a shining blue glyph covered in complex symbols. " **What I seek is invasion, Shira!"**. And as the wall of light collided, it was for a moment stopped. Of course given the sheer number of opponents it was inevitable that the shield would disappear and at least some of the attack would make it through. By the end of it, My clothes were looking more than a little charred, I had some minor burns and I was pretty exhausted. I wouldn't be blocking the next attack, and my shield had nullified my enhancement spell so I couldn't dodge. "Is this really it for me, heh. I suppose there are worse ways to go." Standing shakily I notice something tucked into my belt. I smiled slightly and mumbled to myself "Ah of course, that fake relic. I blame you for this." I looked up to see what looked like an officer of Roland walking slightly in front of the two dozen or so troops of Roland and Nelpha. He opened his mouth to speak, but I really wasn't interested. Heard one pompous nobles monologue, heard them all. Instead, I decided to see exactly what that fake relic could do. Drawing it from in my belt with a single fluid movement I channelled what magic I had left into the blade and sliced. Hoping for some kind of ranged attack, or at the very least and interesting light show. I got the second one. because right where I had slashed there was now what could only be described as a 'tear' in space. Looking through there was a momentary flash of a thousand different colours before the light faded and I saw a strange place. A place with massive buildings and what appeared to be horseless carriages. Making a split second decision I decided to do what I always do. Wing it.

And so I jumped straight in. Unfortunately I didn't really think that through, because the moment after my feet left the ground I realised that the portal or whatever it was had appeared a good few hundred feet off the ground. That, coupled with the cry of **"Kurenai"** and the resulting fireball almost impacting my right hand caused me to drop the strange sword as I leapt towards the portal. Then I was falling.

Ayano - Point of view

The temperature around Ayano was rapidly increasing. Most people would blame it on the sun, people aware of the 'special' abilities of the Kanagi family would realise she was seriously upset. The cause of course was her stoic cousin. "_Damn it! That Kazuma's the worst!Going after Misao and that other woman, what was her name, Kirita? Kirika? Grrr it doesn't matter he's still the worst... Why the hell is this bothering me so much anyway?" _While lost in her own thoughts she was unknowingly leading her two friends down an empty street, of course said friends were currently trying to get her attention.

Failing verbal attempts at communication Yukari grabbed her hand stopping her and asking "where are you going? The shops we like aren't there." This seemed to do the trick as Ayano took a look around realising she didn't know where they had ended up, "Ah, where is this?" rather than receiving an answer from either of her friends another voice called out in a rather cheerful, somewhat aloof and undoubtedly masculine voice, "funny, I was about to asking you that." Whirling around the three friends found themselves facing a young man, no older than twenty, wearing what may have once been rather noble clothes with... pieces of armour over them? In any case the state of his clothing suggested he had run straight through a burning building then gone back in just for laughs. The top layer of clothing was charred and blackened, it's previous colours unrecognisable. While the under shirt looked to be covered in the burnt remains of the other clothes. Funnily enough his white trousers looked relatively unscathed, a few burns around the top but other than that nothing. Almost as if whatever had caused the burns to his clothes had been focused on his torso. His hair however was a different story, whether it was naturally black as night or if it was ash none of the girls could tell. But what they did know was that it looked ridiculous. The mans' fairly short hair was stuck up in every direction, making his head look like some kind of oversized porcupine.

Nanase was the first of the three girls to find her voice after a moment of silence, "wow, looks like you were wrestling with a burning log. You alright?" At this point the man looked down at his clothes before returning his gaze to the girls, "sure, everything is perfectly alright, save for my pride" pausing for a moment he raised his right hand in a wave while introducing himself. "Far as I know my name's Lionel Lute. How should I address you lovely ladies?" As soon as he had finished, and before the entire sentence had time to sink in, Ayano had already let loose a right kick aiming for the mans jaw. With a shout that was more of a growl Ayano said "Back off buddy". To the surprise of the three girls the man simply bent slightly backwards, allowing the kick to pass straight by his head. "Well I'm sorry if I offended you, it was meant to be a compliment." Before Ayano had a chance to release her pent up frustration on the unfortunate passerby Yukari intervened by restraining her friend, "sorry about Ayano, she's having a bit of guy trouble" at this point she continued despite Ayanos' protests "and we've been harassed on the way here so she's a little bit on the cranky side. If you don't mind me asking, what happened to you?"

Lionel - Point of view

Well, that was a question with a long answer. After jumping through that portal I managed to use my magic to slow my fall so I landed on a building. A one hundred floor building. Which I then had to walk all the way down, only to find out they have some kind of metal box called an elevator which could have taken me down without any effort at all. Then I almost got hit by one of those metal carriages called cars trying to cross the road. And that's not counting the wall of fire and lightning I was almost annihilated by before entering the portal. Thank god I looked like a foreigner in this country, at least it had been easy to convince people my of knowledge was a language barrier. Though to be fair by using my eyes I could analyse the physical structure of the machines I came across so it really was just a lack of technical terms and names which made me stand out in a conversation. Oh and there was that first hour of awe where practically everything was an entirely new experience. I must've looked like a gaping idiot during that. And let's not forget the local law enforcement. They were a pain to avoid. I really don't want to get picked up by them before figuring out where I am and what I'm going to do now.

_"What was I thinking about again? Oh right, how to answer that question and not give too much away." _"What happened to me? Well I'm not entirely sure, I had a disagreement with a bunch of old acquaintances and then before I knew what was really going on I was on top of a building about ten blocks down the road. So an answer for an answer, where exactly are we?" Technically I wasn't lying. I had a disagreement with a bunch of old acquaintances that wanted to kill me then I used a weird sword thing that opened up a strange portal that came out on top of a building. But I'd rather keep all that stuff about magic out of the picture till I know how it's regarded in this country. If it's the same as Roland I may end up getting locked up and tortured until I reveal how all the magic I know works. That would not be good.

As I was thinking that the girl with the shortest hair spoke up, "well the main road is a block or two down that way." I wasn't paying attention to the direction she pointed because something caught my eye, "and since you've given your name I suppose we should give ours. My name is Nanase Kudo, the blonde girl is Yukari Shinomiya and the violent one is Ayano Kannagi. Hey are you listening?" at that last point I shifted my attention back to the now named Nanase, "sorry I was a little distracted, I caught your names though. Would you mind telling me what that is over there?" The three girls turned to follow my pointed finger, which ended up drawing their attention to a strange blob like creature which had just caught a man within its grasp. As they watched in horror the man was entirely dissolved within the creature. Fortunately for me while the girls were distracted I was able to use my eyes to properly examine the creature. As the blue pentagram glyphs appeared on my eyes I saw formulas, equations, the structure of the creature and more. In an instant I had all the information needed to know what the creature was capable of. Because this was a being made of magic. But not the kind of magic I was familiar with. Honestly, I feel sorry for the poor man that had died, but seeing this creature was exactly what I needed to in some part understand the magic of this place. Hopefully I would get a better example though because there was no way in hell I could use the knowledge I had just gained for anything other than destroying that creature or creating a similar one. The latter of which I would never do of my own free will.

What happened next was little more than a blur, but thanks to my Alpha Stigma I was able to see it all. I saw Yukari and Nanase panic in front of the creature, completely oblivious as to what it was. Which probably meant that such things thankfully were uncommon. I then saw Ayano step in to help them as I retreated to get a better view of what will hopefully be a display of this places magic. If none of the girls could fight I would step in. Fortunately Ayano proved her worth by incinerating the blob with little effort after calling forth some sort of sword. I was a little disappointed that the sword was summoned as opposed to being created, that meant that I wouldn't be able to use it. In addition Ayano seemed to have an innate resistance to the effects of fire, which I sadly lacked so although I had seen exactly how to create fire using their magic and despite having the ability to do so I would never be able to use it in battle since the flames would burn me as badly as the enemy. It was actually rather scary how easily she was able to control magic. There were no glyphs, no chanting, from what I gathered she just controlled the spirits of fire with her own will. Another unfortunate result of this was a simple realisation. There was no way that this was the same world that I come from. The spirits simply aren't numerous enough or strong enough to be used in such a way, magic circles, glyphs and incantations are required to focus and amplify the strength of the spirits so they can be used to create magic. But this place, it was practically swimming in them. Well it's not like I liked my old home much anyways.

While I was stuck contemplating what all of that meant I idly noted the reaction of Yukari and Nanase to Ayanos use of magic. It wasn't very positive. It was like the reactions back home when people discovered I was a bearer of the Alpha Stigma. Does that mean magic in general is treated the same as the Alpha Stigma here?

I almost missed the mass gathering behind Ayano, but noticing it probably spurred it on to act quicker as it attempted to attack Ayano from behind. Before her friends warnings had left their lips I was already in action with both hands drawing glyphys in the air.

**"What I seek is the water cloud, Mizui!"**

**"What I seek is the burning field, Kurenai!"**

Before both spells had even been cast I realised how foolish I had been, the water spell was meant to protect ayano from the flames. But I'd already discovered she was immune to normal flames. I sighed heavily as I watched the stream of water knock ayano off of her feet and over the blob even as the ball of fire that was Kurenai hovered momentarily in the air spraying smaller fireballs over the blob. However there was an unexpected effect from that combination. despite the fact that ayano was propelled a fair distance away, the majority of the water was in the path of the flames of Kurenai. The effect was an instant cloud of red hot vapour, while not exactly effective against the creature it did give me another idea.

**"What I seek is thunder, Izuchi!"**

As the overcharged bolt of lightning entered the small cloud of mist it dispersed. After all, water conducts electricity better than air, so water vapour would make a much better conductor. That was the theory at least, in practice it made quite a nice little localised thunderstorm surrounding the creature, and due to the distance Ayano was propelled she was relatively unscathed. A few small shocks but nothing major. Unfortunately the miniature lightning storm quickly calmed down without the creature emerging. After waiting a moment I decided to blow away the cloud to assess the situation.

**"Breath of wind, lend us thy power!"**

A drastically different style of glyph appeared signify a spell from another country as a small wind blew, carrying the mist away to reveal what remained of the creature. That is to say a small puddle of goo on the floor. Completely inert.

It was at this point that I returned my attention to the two people who had no magic whatsoever. "You two okay?" I got a couple of hesitant nods in return before turning to Ayano. "And you?" The response I received from her was quite different. And not exactly polite. "What the hell was that!? I've never seen anyone use magic like that before by someone not possessed by a yoma. Just who the hell are you?" It appears as though her distress at her friends reactions has momentarily been sidelined by the need to interrogate me _"*sigh* I need a nap."_ "I already told you, my name is Lionel Lute. Please try to pay attention." She bristled at my comment before looking towards her friends and suddenly looking downcast. Guess the distress is back, convenient for me, I'll just slip away while... "hey" crap. I turned to see a guy wearing a black jacket just touching down on the ground a few feet away. And inwardly cheered. Despite the fact that I really wanted to sneak away, this guy's magic I can use. And oh boy, if that levitation trick is the best thing he shows me I'll be satisfied. Of course I'll probably never use it on myself, I hate heights, but it has to be useful for something. But from the look on his face he's expecting some form of acknowledgement, so I put on my best smile, turned off the Alpha Stigma and replied "hey there, need me for something?" He just gave a noncommittal shrug before stating "not really, just wanted to say thanks for doing my job." I sent a friendly nod in his direction before hastily leaving.

Time to find the one source of information which has never failed me. The library!

End Prologue

Author note: Well that's the start, please review if you can so I can find out your thoughts and feelings on how I'm doing. I'll be running a poll at some point seeing whether or not you want other characters from the legend of the legendary heroes to show up. They won't be the actual characters from the anime or manga because they don't exist yet. But there's no reason why I can't tack in a clone with a different name if you want. I'm not entirely sure where this story is going anyway. The only event that I have somewhat planned out is the anime episode with I think it wasw Ayumi or something. The clone girl, I'll rewatch the epsiode later to refresh my memories but that episode in my fanfiction will not turn out good. But then it didn't turn out very good in the anime. Also Kazuma won't be having his match with Catherine and I may mess with the timetable a bit. Otherwise I'm gonna try to keep to the anime and manga as much as possible. Unless you don't want me to, I could probably come up with an original story if I had to.


	2. Chapter One : To Slay a Dragon

Authors note: Well I was kind of hoping for a few more people to read my first chapter but I guess it's still early days eh?

Well I'd like for as many people reading this to review as possible, because so far I have one, from a guy I pretty much forced at gunpoint to read it. I think he might be a tad bit biased. Anything will do, just say what I'm doing well, what I'm doing crap and try to leave the flames outside.

Also, like I said last chapter I will be editing the timeline for Kaze no Stigma somewhat. I won't be messing with things like character ages and the like, but some things might happen in a different order and there will be a bigger gap between major events.

I find it to be absurd that everything always goes to hell straight after the main character arrives, so there'll be at least a month in universe time between major events. I don't intend for the characters to be idle for those months though. Time waits for no man after all. So now that that's done, on with the important stuff.

"Speech"

**"Incantations/Spells"**

_"Thoughts"_

Chapter One Start: To slay a dragon

Lionel - Point of view

Today did not go well. Of course, that's pretty much par for the course for a taboo breaker like me. In case you people don't know, learning magic from one country and running away afterwards is considered a pretty big crime where I'm from. Kinda like stealing the plans to some weapon of war in your world. But yesterday was a whole other kind of bad.

Getting attacked by taboo breaker pursuit squads, I can deal with.

Getting transported to another world, I can deal with.

Getting attacked by a cranky fire mage then saving her ass a minute later, I can deal with.

Getting refused entrance to the library because I looked like a deranged pyromaniac is going a bit too far even for me.

Then again I can't really blame the staff for thinking that. I can curse them for making a big deal out of it though. Although to be honest, I really did need to get cleaned up.

So with that in mind I had headed to the park in order to find a nice out of the way place were I could quickly wash up and lick my wounds. A feat that would have been difficult without some creative uses of Mizui and Kurenai, my water and fire spells respectively,

With the two of them I managed to salvage a good portion of my right side armour, my undershirt and trousers as well as my boots. I still stuck out like a sore thumb, but now that I was wearing a navy blue shirt with dull steel armour covering my right arm with fingerless gauntlets and now clean white trousers as opposed to slightly melted pieces of metal and black soot for clothes I could blend into crowd if I really had to. Maybe. The armour still makes that a bit difficult, but I'll be damned if I'm abandoning it.

In the end, the library was worth it. I spent the rest of the day, which was a little over four hours, studying everything that could possibly be different between my world and this one. And I didn't even make a dent.

I managed to figure out that there were relatively few differences in written language, as with the spoken language, and eventually managed to find out that I was in a place called Japan. And then I got stuck on my location since I didn't know any landmarks.

I also learnt the bare basics of using a computer with one of those idiot guides, that was humiliating when I saw people young and old working them flawlessly when I had trouble switching it on.

I also learnt a bunch of things that don't really matter before I decided to find a quiet spot to take a nap before I go look for a job.

And now I'm here, sitting in a tree, after my nap was rudely interrupted, by an explosion.

_"Well, guess nap time is well and truly over now" _I noiselessly dropped down to the floor and proceeded to make my way cautiously towards the area the explosion originated from. It was definitely magical in nature, because I can't think of anything non magical that would make a tower of black flame. So that put it firmly in my area of expertise, or it would if I had any idea what was going on.

I made my way near the edge of a clearing in front of a church where what looked like a very short confrontation had taken place. At first glance, it appeared as though a few men had attacked a young girl that appeared to be carrying something. And were then torn apart or incinerated. _"Something's not right" _with a thought I activated my Alpha Stigma and examined the girl. It wasn't a pretty sight. Normal people don't usually have a very strong aura because their aura is natural and fades into the background. The aura of a powerful mage is stronger but still somewhat fades. Hers was a stark contrast to everything else. There was no way in hell that that black aura was in any way natural. Whatever she did to make her aura like that, was bad news. Very bad news. As an afterthought I also noted with my enhanced vision that she was carrying a severed head. Lovely.

_"And not at all my business, so time to leave!"_ Of course the moment I think that things start to get interesting. And once things get interesting my legs stop listening to my brain. So I simply observed with my alpha stigma as three newcomers arrived on the scene.

Two of the newcomers looked rather familiar to my eyes but I couldn't quite place them from this distance, it also didn't help that they were facing away from me towards the first girl. I was also a little bit too far to hear much of what they were saying so I had to resort to reading the girls lips.

I managed to piece together little bits of the story, it appeared as though the girl who I heard was named Misao had done something against her family. They then tried to kill her and failed. Or something, that wasn't really all that interesting. She seemed more than a little bit psychotic from what she was saying.

After a few minutes of talking Misao decided she had had enough and turned the severed head she was holding into a familiar goo like substance which she then proceeded to absorb. That grabbed my interest entirely. If she was making those goo creatures she had to go. Those things were evil, they drained the life out of people to use them as fuel for spells.

It was at that point I figured out where I knew those two from, when the girl called out to some survivors to flee they called her Ayano. That meant she was most likely the girl I met earlier, and the tall guy was the one who stopped me for a moment before I left. They seemed capable enough so I decided to sit back and wait.

I yawned and settled in to watch how it played out. And was greatly disappointed and surprised at the same time. I didn't expect Misao to do too much to the trio, but I also didn't expect the tall guy named Kazuma to be able to just stand there and shrug off black fireballs with a wall of wind. with my eyes I managed to capture everything and while the power shown by Misao was good, Kazumas was insane. I wouldn't be able to get any low level spells through a barrier like that, so he'd probably kick my ass in a straight fight.

It was after that when I found out why Misao went off the deep end. She started speaking about how her 'angel' had made promises to her. And of course due to the laws of drama said angel appeared. Only that rat was anything but. From what I could see he was most definitely human. During the confrontation he named himself as Michael Harley.

And he'd also stolen something important from Misao. Her kindness. I didn't even know that was possible before I watched him give it back, shocking her into a coma. And opening up a whole barrel of worms. Or in this case goo. For some reason knocking Misao out caused a whole load of that goo stuff to come out of her and form into a dragon. Which the fake angel then proceeded to merge with. The worst part though? Contained within that goo was an immense amount of magical energy. In order to create something of that magnitude, you would have to drain dry about a thousand normal people. And from what I witnessed earlier, it's safe to assume that that's what they did.

_"*sigh* I'm going to need to make some preparations" _after that thought crossed my mind I retreated further back into the park to get ready to slay a dragon, my face set in a mask of determination. It was a shame Misao would probably have to die, but it would take way too much effort to not kill her at this point. _"Besides, she'll never atone for the sins she's committed. Just like me I suppose."_

"Did you really need to kill them?" I thought I heard a familiar female voice ask, shattering my concentration and causing me to spin around as though the devil were whispering in my ear. _"Just another ghost of the past. Nothing more than a memory."_

After that brief distraction I moved to put some distance between myself and the clearing. It wouldn't do for the enemy to hear my preparing my defensive spells. I would also need to clear my head, real or not that voice still had the power to greatly affect me.

Even if the person it belonged to was no longer among us.

Ren - Point of view

Why did Ayano have to drag me along? Oh, right. She wanted to use me as a shield against my big brother. Did she really think that would work? Anyway I'm here now so I may as well help Kazuma. Something that Michael said had made him really angry for some reason, I think they might have both known the same person or something. I guess it doesn't matter, Kazuma must have a plan.

I then heard Kazuma mumbling "Next... What to do?" _"eh? He doesn't have a plan?" _Ayano then put my thoughts into words "What do you mean what to do!?... Are you still planning on saving Misao?" Of course Kazuma casually replied with a simple "yeah" before looking to Ayano, "Ayano, use your purification flame to burn that guy to a crisp. That way you can defeat it without hurting Misao." For a moment there he looked really happy that he had come up with that idea. Of course he got a blank look from both me and Ayano before she bluntly replied "Can't be done. Not that I won't do it! But I can't. Only Father and Uncle Genma can do it." As soon as she finished speaking Kazuma turned to me and I frantically started shaking my head.

He then looked at the dragon before turning to the side and muttering "how useless." _"ah! Kazumas being mean again." _Ayano had no problems yelling "Excuse me!?"

After Ayano calmed down she suggested that we should just let Misao die. I didn't want to do that, but it didn't look like there would be any way to save her. Kazuma gently patted Ayano on the head and replied "Perhaps. Even so. I still want her to live." After a short acknowledgement Ayano told us she would attack from the front.

Ayano was incredible, it looked like she could beat that thing on her own! "Hey Kazuma do you think Ayano will be able to beat that thing and save Misao?" Kazuma turned to me with a blank look and said "No... Even if she beats that thing she won't save Misao." My face fell at this. "But she's not on the defensive at all, it's almost like she doesn't care if she dies." That got me worried, if Kazuma didn't think she would win then she probably wouldn't. Moments after Kazuma stood saying "That's it, I'm gonna go help that idiot. You go back first." I was glad that my brother was worried about me, but there was no way I was running away while my family needs help. "I'm going too!" Kazuma turned around to look at me as I spoke. "Though I can't match up to you and Ayano, I can still help! Because I'm a Kannagi!" Before I knew it Kazuma was patting me on the head like he did to Ayano, "I know. You can come and help save Misao." My face lit up and I followed Kazuma to help Ayano.

As we got close enough to help Ayano, she made a reckless assault which backfired. She had leapt over the dragon as she attacked, and the dragon's hed deformed as a number of tentacles shot out, ready to skewer Ayano. From where I was I could clearly see Kazuma save her. I could also clearly see the next wave of tentacles heading for them both. Acting as quickly as possible I sent a wave of fire to intercept and incinerate them. Getting a thumbs up from Kazuma "Great backup. Not bad, Ren." I smiled and shouted to them "I'll leave Ayano to you brother. I'll try my best to buy you some time." I then turned to fully face the dragon, stating in as strong a voice as I could "before Ayano and Kazuma return. Let me be your opponent!"

That got it's attention. But I wouldn't falter. Ayano and Kazuma need me, so I won't back down, even if it's coming towards me, and easily big enough to crush me. This is going to be a lot harder than I thought. I quickly tried to gain as much distance as I could, being careful not to trip on the surrounding rubble, while firing waves of flame at the dragon. _"I just have to keep it distracted, when Ayano and Kazuma come back they'll have a plan." _I then devoted my full attention to the dragon before thinking, _"now how do I do that?."_

The next few minutes were a blur in my mind. The dragon would constantly try to advance while firing black flames at me, while I would constantly try to keep my distance whilst returning my own flames. Neither of us was doing any significant damage, but I was certainly tiring quicker. So it was a great relief when I saw Ayano return. That quickly turned to panic when I saw blood on her uniform. "Ayano, are you okay!?" I yelled worriedly. The answer I got wasn't one I was hoping for, "I'm fine, it's Kazumas blood. We need to buy him fifteen minutes to recover." _"Fifteen minutes? I'm starting to tire from three. Well it could be worse, at least it sounds like they have a plan." _I nodded to Ayano, "alright, fifteen minutes."

After Ayano returned we managed to return to the offensive for a while, with the two of us working together we could attack from different directions, throwing off the dragons attacks. Michael of course wouldn't stop telling us to get out of his way the whole time. But he was a pointless distraction that needed to be ignored.

Of course it couldn't last, we couldn't do any damage serious enough to destroy the dragon without killing Misao, so Michael just had to wait until one of us made a mistake. Unfortunately that time came before Kazuma managed to recover. Because of my inexperience I forgot to take care of my surroundings. And ended up tripping over the remains of a tree as I tried to evade the dragon. Michael didn't miss his opportunity and moved the dragon to swallow me entirely. Ayano tried to help but couldn't do enough damage to stop it. We'd only managed to buy Kazuma five minutes. So I was done. There was nothing any of us could do.

**"I implore the gods above to bestow thy servant with the demon scorching light!"**

_"Eh?" _I had a moment's warning before my entire vision was filled, not with the enclosing maw of the dragon, but with bolts of purple light. Removing the entire head and front legs from the dragon. Stopping it dead. I turned to face where the attack came from, and saw a single man who seemed to slightly glow, waving his hand in a circle over his head. Rings of red glyphs appearing around him, expanding and falling to the floor.

**"I offer up this contract, to unleash the magic spirit beast which dances through the skies!"**

As he finished his incantation he threw his hand to the floor, creating a brightly glowing orb which turned into a pair of wolves made of light which then proceeded to launch themselves at the dragon, exploding and tearing a large chunk from its side. Not that I didn't appreciate the mans timely assistance, but I had to stop him. At this rate he would kill Misao.

Lionel - Point of view

The kid just had to fall over, he just had to put himself in a fatal situation. Now I've had to reveal myself and get involved. Well at least that dragons almost down. That was way easier than I thought. The outside of the dragon is less dense than I had originally suspected it would be. So why haven't they killed it already? Ah well, question for later.

Time to finish this guy off, I stood sideways with my right arm extended towards the dragon. And with the enhanced speed granted by the spell I had cast before the battle drew a number of glyphs for my personal favourite spell.

**"What I seek is thunder! Izuchi!"**

Four glyphs of thunder arranged in a line to rake across the undefended belly of the dragon. Four bolts of thunder that would destroy the beast. Two that would mortally wound it. One idiot girl that blocked the only two I needed to get through. That damn girl, I think her name was Ayano, used her sword as a lightning rod as she stood in between me and the dragon. If she hadn't planted it in the ground the electricity would have certainly fried her, immunity to fire or not.

Of course this gave rise to a question "Any particular reason you saved that monster?" At first my only reply was a glare, she really didn't like me for some reason. Then she opened her mouth and gave me the reason "that attack would have killed someone trapped in the monster." _"So that was her reason? They're still trying to save her?"_ I sighed and spoke up "well if you had a way to save her you would have done it already, if you won't kill her to stop that thing. I. Will." As soon as I finished speaking I started drawing another glyph **"what I seek is the water cloud Mizui!"** Firing off a small river's worth of water I managed to knock back Ayano, the real purpose though was to soak her as thoroughly as possible so she wouldn't be able to block the next lightning attack without sacrificing herself. She wasn't that stupid. Right?

Of course as soon as I try to draw another glyph I had to dodge a bolt of flame from the kid. "I appreciate your assistance sir, but I can't let you kill Misao. We have a plan, but we need to buy Kazuma another ten minutes." At least the kid was polite. But ten minutes would be enough time for that thing to cause havoc if it left here. "Sorry kid, but anything can happen in ten minutes. I won't risk that thing escaping for the life of one girl."

Having said my part, I used my enhance abilities to leap onto the church roof. Which had somehow remained undamaged. And saw the dragon getting up. Great. Now that Michael guy knows I'm here and won't be caught off guard again. I heard Michael shout something like "don't get in my way" but I ignored him. His last words don't matter to me.

I drew a number of glyphs for Izuchi to try to take him down quickly, but a bolt of fire from Ayano forced me to swap to Mizui to block with water. The kid attacked the dragon with fire only for it to repair itself. The dragon aimed a blast at me only for me to leap over it into the air. Now, high up in the air, over the head of the dragon. I decided to take a risk. I didn't think those pair of mages were willing to kill me, so they wouldn't be able to stop my spells from where they were. At least not while I can't dodge their attacks. But from this position, if this doesn't work I'll be at the mercy of the dragon as I fall. _"Here goes nothing"_

In the air, my hands were a blur. I quickly drew five Izuchi glyphs before working on a larger glyph which encompassed all five before chanting.

**"What I seek is amplification, Taibu!"**

A spell normally used in group formations, taibu absorbs everything thrown at it, merges them then throws them out in the same direction they were headed. Used wrongly it's a good way to get killed. In this case it turned five separate Izuchi spells into one massive thunderbolt. As I was chanting though, the dragon had let loose an immense fireball in my direction. While not enough to deflect my attack, it was enough to soften the blow. Turning what would have been a fatal attack into a maiming one. And maiming doesn't work on monsters made of goo. Which left me, in the middle of the air, above a giant dragon. Crap.

I saw dozens of tentacles shoot from the back of the dragon towards me. Time to try something new. _"When I first saw Kazuma he used a wind barrier to fly. I should be able to use it to dodge." _That was what I was thinking. But upon attempting it, I could barely make a breeze. I was doing everything right, I knew it. But it was like trying to empty an ocean with a bucket. There was barely any effect. And everything seemed to slow down as the tentacles closed in.

There was no way to dodge. There was no time to cast. I idly noted it was raining. I was going to die here. I would be skewered and torn apart. _"I guess there are worse ways to go." _I gently closed my eyes. "Giving up so easy?" My eyes snapped open. I remember when she said that. Damn Captain. Gone for years and still she manages to get my ass moving. I was focused now. There was always a way out. I brushed aside a tug in the back of my mind that was distracting me. In battle you need to dodge, if you cannot dodge, parry, if you cannot parry block, if you cannot block make it survivable. So I twisted around in the air to make the most difficult target possible while covering my upper body and eyes with my arms.

And instead of being skewered I was suddenly knocked out of the air and soaked. When I hit the floor I noticed that the rain had turned into a full on storm. And that damnable tug in the back of my mind was back, and stronger than ever. It was really distracting.

Just as I was standing back up I heard a distinct female voice yelling "Ren, I'll keep that guy down. You'll have to hold off Michael for Kazuma." _"Oh that's not good. Guess she realised I might be a problem" _ I vaguely heard a panicked response from Ren before turning to where I heard Ayanos voice come from, just in time to dodge a fireball and see Ayano charging me. _"Close combat eh? I can play that game." _Aiming at the floor in front of Ayano I cast my spell,

**"What I seek is thunder, Izuchi!"**

And watched as the bolt impacted a few feet in front of her, throwing up a cloud of dust to mask my movements for a moment. As she approached I drew a glyph with the heel of my foot with practiced movements without performing the incantation.

As Ayano exited the dust cloud mere feet in front of me, a cross-shaped spear with three straight blades erupted from the ground where my heel was a moment ago. Grasping the spear I swung it in a wide arc to halt Ayanos advance. Stopping the swing with the blade pointing straight towards Ayano, I unleashed a barrage of thrusts.

Ayano managed to deflect my spear to the side and advanced into my guard, trying to end the fight with an overhead strike. Obviously expecting to cut right through my spear, and obviously surprised when that failed. That left the two of us with weapons locked looking each other straight in the eye. "What kind of spear can stand up to Enraiha?" She asked, almost to herself. "One that I spent years designing, besides that blade of yours is meant to kill demons. Not men." After finishing my piece I began to push harder, she was stronger than she looked. But I was still stronger, and the strain was starting to show. "Why are you so determined to kill Misao?" I gave her a glare that could cut through steel as I answered "I'm not, I just don't think her life is worth risking the lives of others at this point." And then broke our stalemate with all the force I could muster, knocking Ayano back a few feet and allowing me to make another slash at her.

Again stopping as the blade points towards Ayano before firing off a thrust to catch Enraiha between two blades. With Enraiha safely trapped for the moment I whipped the spear to the left, carrying Enraiha with it and allowing me to go for a strike with the base of my spear. Ayano responded by jumping back and cloaking herself in flames. My reaction was to also jump back, taking my left hand off the spear and casting spells in rapid succession.

**"What I seek is thunder, Izuchi!"**

Bolts of lightning tore towards Ayano and were dodged.

I brought up both arms facing up as purple light gathered at my fists.

**"I implore the gods above to bestow thy servant with the demon scorching light!"**

Innumerable blasts of purple energy slowed her advance but were mostly deflected.

I flipped around the spear, holding it upside down with my right hand as I continued to cast with my left.

**"What I seek is the water cloud, Mizui!"**

She didn't even bother dodging the blast of water, trusting her flames to take care of it. However through the mist that formed a form shot through, forcing her to bring up Ayano and knocking her off her feet.

Outside the mist I proceeded to swiftly create a spear to replace the one I had thrown and retreated, creating glyphs on the floor as I did.

Ayano flew out of the mist cloud, clearly annoyed by that she had underestimated me.

And ran straight into a minefield of Izuchis

As I retreated, I had the chance to draw a good twenty glyphs between myself and Ayano. And she had charged right into the center of them.

Before she realised what was happening she had been struck by four or five, and barely dodged six more. At this point, we were both running out of steam. That earlier attack on the dragon had taken a lot out of me.

If I was going to have enough left to bring down that dragon, I would need to end this quickly. But if I used anything big enough to do that I would definitely kill her. Then again, she's probably thinking the same thing.

Just as I was about to charge and get back into close quarters with Ayano, a blast of wind knocked me flying into a tree.

Quickly but shakily getting back to my feet I saw my attacker, apparently Kazuma had joined the fray. "Enough. Give us time for one shot and we'll take down that dragon and save Misao. If we don't you can do what you want. Deal?" Well that was a pretty reasonable request. Guess I wouldn't have to fight this guy yet. "Alright, I'll give you two minutes to make your move."

I disengaged after saying that and took up residence in a tree near the edge of the battlefield. I idly took note when Ayano said something about him being back early. And I gave my full attention to the attack they were setting up. Kazuma was using his wind to power up Ayanos flames, turning them blue nd giving them exorcising properties. I had my doubts about whether or not she would actually have the strength to reach the dragon and bring it down. But those evaporated when Kazuma nearly threw her at the thing with wind magic.

The attack itself was awe-inspiring, with a single strike a column of azure flames was created. Completely destroying the dragon, but leaving Michael and Misao unharmed. That was my cue.

Michael started some rant about how two people shouldn't have the power to defeat a creature with the power of a thousand. I stood tall on the branch I was on and pulled my spear back. Michael made a move to retreat when Kazuma started moving towards him. And I launched my spear forwards.

Kazuma, Ren, Ayano. None of them cared about the thousand people who were dead. They only cared about Misao. So I would be the one to kill Michael. For the fallen.

The spear flew straight and true. Flying over Kazumas head, and embedding itself deep within Michaels chest. Kazuma turned to face me as I stood upon my branch. He was obviously displeased, but I didn't care. Justice had been served. That was all I needed to see. So I left.

I decided to the leave the park and look for some other place to spend the night. I had a feeling that I wouldn't find any peace there.

As I was exiting the park I encountered a woman with blonde hair and violet eyes. "Hello there, you put on quite a show." My guard relaxed slightly, that kind of greeting generally resulted in some kind of offer. "Thank you, I suppose you were responsible for the barrier?" She looked pleasantly surprised when I said this. _"Yep, there's going to be an offer here somewhere." _she smiled "yes that was my work, I'm surprised you felt it." I wasn't in the mood for games. I was tired, wet and starting to get hungry. "I didn't, I saw it. But do you mind if we skip the pleasantries? This has been a hectic night and I need to find somewhere to stay." If possible she looked even more pleased at that. "Of course. My name is Kirika Tachibana, I'm with the metropolitan polices special investigations unit. How would you like to come with me for an interview, and we can see about getting you a job and a place to stay?"

Honestly, I would never normally agree to this. It was way too good to be true. But given everything I know, and the fact the only people that want to kill me are back in the park. I decided to agree. After all, if magic isn't widely used then the offer would probably be legitimate. "I can't guarantee anything, but I guess I can hear you out. Lead the way."

End Chapter One

Well that is the end of chapter one. As you've probably guessed, Lionel is not the most mentally sound person. There is a story there and I may tell it either here or in another fanfiction later. Any questions, critics or whatever review and I will try my best to answer or correct them.


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